Water Balloon Toss – Youth Group Games

The Water Balloon Toss is another of those great youth group games that gets young people completely soaking wet.

It can be played anywhere outdoors that’s large enough, but it’s a particularly good game for youth retreats where you’re likely to be in a wide open space and the youth will have a change of clothes on hand.

Here’s how to play Water Balloon Toss:

Resources

Water balloons

Bucket

Rope, duct tape or cones

Towels

Preparation

Fill up the water balloons and put them in a bucket of water to ensure that they don’t burst early. For this game, you’ll need one balloon for every two players, plus a few extras in case any do burst in the bucket.

At one end of the playing area, mark a line using the rope, duct tape, cones or whatever you have available to you. This isn’t essential, but can help ensure the young people don’t try to cheat.

Teams

Split the young people into pairs. Make sure you get all your volunteers involved as well – your youth will love to see them getting soaking wet too!

How To Play

Have one person from each pair stand behind the line that’s laid out on the ground

Their partner should stand about two yards away, with them both facing each other (see image below). They should also be about two yards away from the people to their left and right, providing there’s enough space

One person from each pair is given a water balloon

When the game starts, they have to toss the balloon to their partner who has to catch it without it bursting

If a balloon bursts, that pair is out of the game and should stand to the side

For the remaining players, the row of players that isn’t behind the line should take a step back

The side that has the balloon should then throw the balloon back

Continue the game with the one side taking a step back every time their pairing makes a successful catch

Winner

The winning pair is the one that manages to get the furthest from each other without their balloon bursting.

Additional Tips

Have someone count to three before the water balloons are tossed, so that all the players throw at the same time

Also have someone keeping an eye on the row of players that moves back to ensure that they’re all an equal distance away from their partners

This game can be over quickly, so prepare double the amount of water balloons if you want them to have another chance of playing

When there’s just one pair left, let them continue the Water Balloon Toss to see how far they manage to get from each other

Don’t miss out on the opportunity to take photos or video footage of this game. Make sure that you have photo release forms completed if you want to publish the photos anywhere (including Facebook)

If you liked this water balloon game, check out all of our other water games. We also have loads of other great games, so there’s no need to ever be short of fun youth group activities!

Question: Do you use any different rules for the Water Balloon Toss or add anything in to make it even more fun? We’d love to hear your ideas in the comments below.